Gotham is never a peaceful place at the best of times, but real drama is brewing on its mean streets. Warner Bros has planning a series of spin-off movies from the main Justice League franchise which have started to cause major waves across Hollywood.

The Hollywood Reporter announced today that the movie studio, which holds all the rights to the DCEU, is courting Martin Scorcese and DiCaprio for its next major standalone villain project.

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The Warner Bros plan is to create another DC Extended Universe with its own franchise of films.

These could operate separate to the existing Jutsice League movies and take place in alternate timelines and present a more adventurous and experimental approach to classic characters.

The Hollywood Reporter said: "The new movies will have non-traditional takes on the heroes and villains of DC, and hopefully, attract actors and filmmakers who don’t typically toil in the comic-book movie world... The plan is to launch a separate label for these projects to distinguish them from the rest of the DC films."

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The Hollywood Reporter added: "Sources say Warners will make an ambitious attempt to use Scorsese to bring Leonardo DiCaprio into the world of comic-book movies.

"Certainly, Scorsese’s involvement in The Joker film, which The Hangover filmmaker Todd Phillips would direct, could elevate and diversify the studio's contributions to the genre, creating the potential to make awards-worthy films such as Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight trilogy."

Leto is said to be taking part in the upcoming Gotham City Sirens spin-off from the main franchise with Margot Robbie, as well as the much-delayed Suicide Squad 2.

The Oscar-winner is believed to be unhappy that there could be two incarnations of the Joker at the same time.

Terrifying as he is on-screen, it's unlikely there is anything to worry about just yet. DiCaprio has never made any kind of superhero movie or been involved in a franchise and Scorcese has yet to sign on for the Joker spin-off.